She was a friend and protecter of the dead. Nephthys was important in Ancient Egyptian culture because they considered the afterlife to be very important. She always stood at the head of the coffin that would take the dead to the underworld with outspread wings.

In the 19th Dynasty of the Ramesside Pharaohs, a temple of Nephthys called the "House of Nephthys of Ramesses-Meriamun" was built in the town of Sepermeru, midway between Oxyrhynchos and Herakleopolis, on the outskirts of the Fayyum and quite near to the modern site of Deshasheh.